“Rather, only the request to provide him with accommodation during his therapeutic treatment in Munich was granted.”
Hullermann was later permitted to serve without restrictions in a Munich parish. In 2010, former vicar general Msgr. Gerhard Gruber took “full responsibility” for the decision.
After leaving the Munich archdiocese in 1982, the future Benedict XVI served as prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before his election as pope in 2005. He retired in 2013 and has since lived in relative seclusion at the Vatican.
The Munich report covered not only the period that the future Benedict XVI led the archdiocese, but also the tenures of Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, who succeeded him, and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who has served as archbishop of Munich and Freising since 2007.
In addition to criticizing the future pope’s handling of four cases, investigators said that Wetter had mishandled 21 cases and Marx two cases.
Marx, a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals, said that he was “shocked and ashamed” at the report’s findings.
The Munich archdiocese is expected to hold a press conference on Jan. 27 to address the study’s conclusions “after a first reading and examination.”
Gänswein’s statement said that Benedict XVI was continuing to read the extensive report by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl.
“At present, he is carefully reading the statements made there, which fill him with shame and pain about the suffering inflicted on the victims,” he said.
“Even though he is endeavoring to read the report quickly, he asks for your understanding that it will take some time for him to read it in its entirety due to his age and health, but also because of its large volume. There will be a statement on the report.”
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